← The Tony Kinnett Cast
The Tony Kinnett Cast
Ep. 529 - Pentagon Readying “FINAL BLOW” Against Iran, Attempted IED Bomber Escapes to China
01:24:14
Axios reports that the Department of War and the White House are preparing a "Final Blow" to end the Iran War / Operation Epic Fury. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries abandons his plan to file a war powers resolution over a lack of support.
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Tony Kennett
Group chat getting quiet. Drop a TikTok clip. Trends, memes, hot topics, instant reactions, endless replies. Keep the vibe alive. Download TikTok now.
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Ed Ruse
Tony Kennett, Tony Kennett.
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Pete Hegseth
Tony Kennett.
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Tony Kennett
Tony Kennett. Tony Kennett.
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Pete Hegseth
Tony Kennett.
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Tony Kennett
Tony Kennett, host of the Tony Kennett cast. Let's get down to business. You're listening to the Tony Kennett cast on 93WibcyTV here. Good evening and welcome to the Tony Knittcast here on the Daily Signal, nationally syndicated, first on 93 WIBC. We have more than enough to dive into this evening. So without further ado, according to a report by Axios and then echoed by just about every major publication via other sources, the Pentagon, the Department of War, is preparing what is being described as a, quote, final blow, the Pentagon's words, not mine, to the Iranian regime. And this comes amid the exact same move that President Trump always uses. Essentially, it's the feint. If you've ever played dodgeball and you've tossed a ball up into the air so that the opponent on the other side of the line looks up at the ball floating in the middle of the air, and while they are looking up, you then smack them in the face of the with another dodgeball you were holding. That's kind of Trump's big move. And by that I mean that's the only diplomatic move that the man uses. And it appears to be what's going on here. So according to the article, President Trump is considering a range of options for military escalation with Iran, several of which center around, you guessed it, strategic islands in the Persian Gulf. These are Axios sources to Barack Ravid writes a lot of their Middle Eastern reporting here. Let me give you the insight as to why this matters. Right now. The Strait of Hormuz has a couple of islands. It floats past on its merry way out into the ocean, that being the Persian Gulf. And it just so happens those islands are stuffed with individuals who fire rather unfriendly projectiles from time to time towards shipping that isn't going to China. And that has set the world's oil and petroleum supply a little bit on edge. And this is something that has not been particularly endearing to the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to the President of the United States. And this brings us into the conversation around Kharg Island. Now, before we get to the various islands, because there's more. It's not just Kharg. We've also got Abu Massa, Greater Tunbas, Lesser Tunbas. I know you were waiting for it and that brings in the United Arab Emirates and some old island claims. Before we get to any of that though, a little something from the President of the United States and the Secretary of War and also Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Here you go.
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Pete Hegseth
Actually, I'm the highest polling person and in other words, after the presidency, I think I may go to Venezuela and run for President against Elsie. I may run against Elsie.
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Tony Kennett
So he begins kind of the presidential cabinet meeting and press conference by joking a little bit about other foreign policy successes around the world. And then we get into the details as to what the President wants to do or what he is or isn't willing to at least help journalists regarding Iran.
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Pete Hegseth
I mean the problem, the problem with the issue of the homo strikes is this. We've decimated them as a military, no Air force, no Navy, Very few rockets left. We blew up so many. Hard to manufacture. Same thing with drones. The leadership is, is gone. The problem with the States is this. Let's say we do a great job. We say we got 99%. 1% is unacceptable because 1% is a missile going into the hull of a ship that cost a billion dollars. Right. So 1% is unexpected. If we do a 99% decimation, that's no good.
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Tony Kennett
Now by the way, this is correct. If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing right now. There are a lot of concerns, a lot of questions people have been asking everyone from some of your local neighborhood pundits all the way up to members of Congress, of course, like Representative Nancy Mace, several members of the international community. And that brings us to the multi island strategy. But the President pitches it over to the Secretary of War. We'll let Hegseth throw in his response here.
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Pete Hegseth
So it's really, you know, but I have a feeling it's going to clean up pretty quickly. I could just say this. They want to make. They want to make and I probably hurt our little negotiations. It gives them a little impetus to say, well I wish you didn't say that, but they said yesterday that we weren't negotiating with them and now they admit that we were negotiating with them. So they want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit.
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Tony Kennett
Little colorful language from the President there. And Hegseth followed up. We don't have time to roll through the entire clip in the exchange here, but Hegseth follows up by making the case that they have been keeping an eye on, on the Persian Gulf as a whole as well as of course The Strait of Hormuz up close to the coast of Iran since the beginning of the conflict. And this is why I believe that since the Pentagon is through multiple sources now indicating a final blow of sorts, that it's going to be focusing on not just Kharg Island. Now, as a refresher course here, Kharg island is this tiny thumbnail of an island which is 15 miles off the coast of Iran, and it handles 90% of all of the oil refining for Iran itself. And so there's been long suggested an idea that the Pentagon seems to have prepared for that if the United States were to capture Kharg island, it would do two things. Number one, it would stop any Iranian leverage from the administration outside of randomly firing on a couple of vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Number two, it would give the United States exclusive access over a lot of China's oil supply, which reframes the entire Indo Pacific relationships between the United States and China. But I'm not going to get into analysis and speculation because, again, as a quick refresher, the island of Kharg, all right, it is right next to the coast of Iran, but it is nowhere near the only island in the Persian Gulf. It's not the only island there. In fact, there are a couple of others that aren't just hosting, for example, a lot of oil infrastructure, a lot of SAM sites that are now smoldering craters. There was a question that we got earlier today asking about the individuals on the island. How many are there? I know there used to be a population of 8,000. Is that still there? We'll probably get to that a little bit later in the show. The other islands at play here do matter and are likely why? You see several different Marine Expeditionary Units that are en route to the area, with perhaps the 82nd Airborne as backup. So first of these would be Larocc Island. It's at the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz, and it is a key export point for Iran's oil industry. Essentially, it's the librarian. It checks the book. It stamps the ship as it sails its way through the Strait of Hormuz. So that brings us to Kharg island, the primary refinery point, and then Larrak island, which is essentially the whole Strait of Hormuz chokepoint. Iran currently uses Laraq, which has a network of bunkers and attack craft that can destroy cargo ships and then attempt to monitor and maintain control over the strait. This is why Iran is trying right now to charge $2 million a boat to sail through the Strait of Hormuz because they can essentially fire from inside a bunker. Now we don't have any information yet as to sorties flown over Larocc island carrying bunker buster. And this is something that a couple of individuals have asked about because certainly over in the western provinces of Iran, the United States has had no issue dropping that armor and bunker piercing, dropping those particular kinds of explosives. So seizing Iraq could limit Iran's ability to harass ships in the Strait and deploy any kind of mines, which would of course break the United States or excuse me, would break Iran's chokehold on traffic. That brings us finally to islands at the uae. The United Arab Emirates really, really wants. So a little bit of a history lesson here. Back in the 70s when Iran was doing, you know, regime things, it conquered three of these UAE islands. This would be Abu Musa and then Greater and Lesser Tunis. Now I'm not pronouncing Toon Bis correctly and I don't care, but Iran is occupying those islands and uses them as staging grounds for some of its Straits harassment campaign. So if the Marines go in and attempt to take these islands, to be very clear, right off the top of the bat, the United States Marine Corps has a particular specialty when it comes to island hopping. This has already been pointed out in the comments. Number two, again, this isn't the large scale ground invasion conversation that Axios does admit near the bottom of the article. In fact, it also points out that Kesham, which is the largest island in the Persian Gulf, it's a chunk of an island, about 558 square miles, is not really strategic to the United States whatsoever. While there may be some missiles or mines or drones and underground tunnels, the United States doesn't appear to have any plans to put up an American flag on that particular island. Just to kind of keep you up to date on what Al Jazeera has called a cork in the world's most vital energy transit passage, it appears the United States has a plan in motion. Here's where the faint comes in because the President of the United States said something kind of to the opposite of this on social media right before the show. And sorry to be a tease, but radio crew, we have to send you over to commercial because it's that time. 7:16 Eastern. We're going to continue on the live stream unabated. It's the Tony Knitcast here on the Daily Signal. Now the President of the United States got out on Truth Social this afternoon and said, as per the Iranian government request, please let this statement serve to Represent that I am pausing the period of energy plant destruction by 10 days to Monday, April 6, 2026 at 8:00pm Eastern Time. The President says, quote, talks are ongoing and despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the fake news media and others, they're going very well. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President Donald J. Trump. The President is doing the exact same thing that he has done consistently in every foreign policy negotiation. He gets out there and says, the United States military, it's gonna put a boot right in your throat. Ho. And then you have the other side of the conflict or whatever saying, no, we have these strong super Cuban, Venezuelan super soldiers that all got mowed down by one Delta Force operator. You can't possibly stand up to us. And then Trump says, I'm gonna give you one last chance. I'm gonna give you a carrot and an Amazon gift card if you decide to aband stupid. And then the other side says no. Trump tosses the dodgeball up into the air, waits for the foreign power to look up at it stupidly. And then the United States Navy and Air Force delivers a sucker punch straight to the kidneys. Now that all said, I do want to bring you to where things appear to stand currently right here, right now. So a report by CBS News suggests that Iran is of course charging some commercial ships sailing through the Strait of Hormuz up to $2 million. However, there are reports now coming out that Iran is not able to reach via radio contact. All of the strips sailing in the Strait of Hormuz. If you can't get a radio message via a line of sight bearing 30 miles, brother, you got problems. The Iranian administration has significant issues. Now, that's coupled with other reports, including an open press release from the Iranian government that the regime is now opening the military to 12 year old volunteers. Ahem, volunteers. Now, hiring 12 year olds is not usually the sign of a regime that's flourishing. But alas, there's, there's far more to tackle as far as the conversation regarding human shields is concerned. As one would think the 12 year olds might be used for. Iran's Foreign Minister Arakshi, or excuse me, Iran's Foreign Minister Tamagotchi, announced today that Gulf countries have been using their own citizens as human shields by allowing U.S. soldiers, quote, to hide in hotels and offices. Now that's thoroughly retarded. And here's why. The Iranian government and their proxies have consistently used foreign, Arabian and majority Muslim nations to hide their own officials. So that Mossad, so that the CIA, so that Other powers around the world couldn't reach them. Do we not all remember just a couple of months ago when Israel launched a very small targeted strike in Doha, Qatar, working with the Qatari government to evacuate the building as best they could, and then tried to ram a particular 35 degree angle of approach missile through the windows, creating a very spicy situation. That's the kind of thing Iran does consistently. Although just, you know, the gall to say that particular kind of thing is definitely worth noting. There is something. I wasn't expecting this. I will level with you. I really wasn't looking for this piece of news, at least in a development from Axios today. Quote, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and this is according to Axios, has abandoned plans to challenge Trump on the Iran war by presenting some kind of war powers resolution or a stall or a stop ordering the President of the United States and the Department of War to cease operations in the Middle East. And why has Hakeem Jeffries abandoned those plans? Because according to the Axios report, he doesn't even have the support from not only the Republican Party, enough of those to, you know, be the majority over in the House. He doesn't even have enough support from his own House Democrats in multiple caucuses. That's insane. And that's not the only insane. I mean, he's cracking at the seams. He, like, did a junior high yelling match in the House today. We'll talk about it. Gotta bring the radio crew back from commercial. It's the Tony Kennett cast here on the Daily Signal, The Tony Kennett cast on 93 WIBC. What would possibly cause Hakeem Jeffries to get into a bewildering, like, tough guy approach in the House today? I truly believe, based on the data that we have seen, based on the reports coming out, Hakeem Jeffries, like Chuck Schumer, has lost all control of his own party. And this is coming in a couple of ways. So Hakeem Jeffries had, according to Axios, abandoned plans earlier today to challenge the Trump administration on the Iran war because not only does he not have enough support to file some kind of war powers resolution in the House, or, excuse me, with the Republicans in the House, but also with Democrats in the House, which, again, I will level with you, kind of shocked me. But all of that stress appears to have gotten to the man. And you can see this in a House exchange today where he did the little tough guy substitute teacher routine. But at the same period of time, immigration enforcement in this country should be fair. Just if you have something to say to me? You can say it right now. So he doesn't like that. As soon as he started talking about how, well, Democrats really want secure borders and they really want homeland security to keep America safe, everyone over on the Republican side of the House started cracking up, started losing it. And I know, because I checked with my congressman, I was like, what was happening here? He said, everyone started laughing because that's ridiculous. Again, it is the Democrats who are responsible for the Department of Homeland Security shutdown right here, right now. It is their own members of their progressive caucuses that make excuses for Islamic terror here in the United States. And so when Hakeem Jeffries gets laughed at during his own little speech and gets. He immediately, like, drops into this and you have something to say for the whole class, do you?
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Brandon Gill
This country should be fair, just and humane.
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Tony Kennett
If you have something to say to me, you can say it right now. That's what I thought. Okay, yeah, that's that. Thank you very much, Shakim Jeffries. That's really exciting. Now, again, we have a policy here on the show that while a lot of other media outlets spend little to no time at all covering thwarted mass terror attempts, we try to spend a lot of time covering successful law enforcement interventions. Because if a law enforcement body, local, state, federal, blocks a major terrorist attack, a mass casualty incident like a shooting, it doesn't get any coverage. But if there is the mass casualty incident that goes forward, then the story of the day is the failure of the law enforcement agency to stop from bringing that to pass. The latest example of this is from the FBI, specifically down in FBI Tampa, the Tampa field office. So from the mouth of Director Kash Patel of the Federal Bureau of investigation, quote, an IED that's an improvised explosive device was placed at MacDill Air Force Base, home to CENTCOM. So the middle Eastern military operational chain of command, and of course U.S. special Operations Command, both of those are housed, at least structurally and organizationally, at MacDill Air Force Base. A brother and a sister have now been indicted. One is in custody for accessory and evidence tampering. And the primary suspect is charged with explosive offenses, explosives offenses. Excuse me. And is currently in China. So one of the two terrorists escaped. He said, quote, this FBI, working with our partners, will continue pursuing all those responsible and ensure they are brought to justice, no matter where they are. Now, the. The individual who was arrested is Alan. Excuse me, the. Yes, the individual, the 20 year old Alan Zhang, who fled to China after planting the device outside the gate, is still currently being looked for. At least there are some communications that are there being made. We don't have a ton of information on like current operational plans from the United States on this measure. However, his sister, 27 year old Ann Mary Zhang was captured. It now is in custody and faces charges of evidence tampering. You can see a picture of her over on the screen. Lovely individual. So good on the FBI for thwarting this terror attempt. This is believed to right now be in obviously given CENTCOM and U.S. special Operations. This is believed to be in connection to the Iran war itself. Now that news aside, this brings us over to the national security issues here at home at large. And when you talk about this, first of all a major judicial decision today, the second court of appeals decision along these lines. There was a 5th Circuit Court of appeals decision in this vein recently, but that one didn't stick. It didn't stop a Bill Clinton appointee, U.S. district Judge John Tunheim, from arguing that if an illegal immigrant in the United States is arrested for something, then the Department of Homeland Security has to release him on bond. You know, just got gotta set bail for him, you know, so he can totally act reasonably and responsibly, I'm sure. Well, in a 2 to 1 decision, the Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit Court held today that illegal aliens which are already residing in the United States can absolutely be detained without bond during removal proceedings. So this idea that you can release them out on bond and then they can escape or go sit with some activist group or wait for some other order of writ in order to get an out of jail free card, that's not a thing. And by the way, very, very good thing that this particular Bill Clinton appointee, the chief US District Judge in the district of Minnesota, because of course he is Judge John Tunheim. The court decision states, quote, Joaquin Joaquin Herrera Avila, a native and citizen of Mexico, was apprehended in Minneapolis in August of 25 for lacking legal documents authorizing his admission into the United States. The Department of Homeland Security detained Avila without bond and brought removal proceedings against him. However, the district court intervened and granted Avila's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. And the government now appeals having jurisdiction under 28 U.S. code subsection 1291 and 2253A. We reverse and remand the proceedings consistent with this opinion because if you are here illegally, you don't have magical Miranda rights and all of these other nonsensities that allow you to be treated with this extra layer of due process that violent criminals in the United States don't often get, obviously the exception being in Zoran Mamdani's New York City where he'll plead for you to be released and talk about how, you know, actually, you know, that kind of nonsense. You know, really, it's the criminal who's the victim and it's the police officers who are the big bad guys. Now, some of this is crippled still because the Department of Homeland Security right now, with the exception of ICE, which is funded through at least 2027 and likely through 2029, is still shut down. And Americans are getting rather upset at this. You can tell this in two different ways. First of all, we've reported consistently that the generic congressional ballot for midterms, the Democrats, which began the year with a nine point to a seven point lead, are now down to a one to two point lead in several polls we are now seeing, and not just like the right wing polls, we are seeing Republicans effectively tied with Democrats in the generic congressional in a midterm year that does not happen unless you are making Americans all over the country wait in lines so long with the TSA that 500 TSA members now going without paychecks, who have mortgages and car payments and other things have resigned. And as, as one official at the TSA told press and Congress, may I add that the TSA might soon have to order certain airports shut down because they're not considered safe enough under current Federal Aviation Administration standards. But, but never fear, folks, because you know your senators who are supposed to be passing some kind of bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, well, I'm afraid that they're more worried about whether they're going to get to go home for Easter. We're going to talk about this over on the live stream radio crew. See you in a second. It's the Tony kid cast here on the Daily Signal. So an unnamed Republican who, according to Politico was, quote, allowed to vent, you junior high children said, quote, I just want to go home, end quote. That's right. Some random senator. I bet again, five bucks it's Thom Tillis of North Carolina got out there and told Politico he's so tired that man, we can't pass the Department of Homeland Security funding. We won't get rid of the filibuster. We won't just procedurally move forward with something that already has an expiration date. No, no, no, no. Instead we're going to stand in the body of the Senate. We're going to sit in the chambers and do absolutely Nothing. And then we're going to go out onto the steps of the Capitol and we're going to, we're going to preen and press around for the social media cameras. So before we get into this, two things, two things that are very, very important and no, neither of them is the whining Republican Senator. I just want to go home. As a reminder, there's a lot of Americans right now who would love to travel from point A to point B that can't because again, the Department of Homeland Security is currently closed due to, of course, Democrats not simply voting to open the bill or, excuse me, not voting to open the department. And then of course, Republicans not simply moving past the filibuster. So we're getting a lot of 53 to 47 style votes. Now. There are a lot of people that are catching shade, that are catching shrapnel for this and some of them really deserve it and some of them absolutely do not deserve it. So one of the statements that was made after the 47th time that the Senate failed to fund the Department of Homeland Security again amid a major military operation, terror threats, the fifth terror threat related to the Operation Epic Fury and the Iranian situation in a month. But, but alas, one guy that's catching shrapnel that really shouldn't is speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who made this statement today.
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Mike Johnson
Afternoon, everybody, we are quite frustrated right now. We keep saying that the coming election is about a contrast for America between common sense and crazy. And you just saw it on display here once again for the third time now, almost every Democrat in the House except for four, voted against the bipartisan, bicameral Department of Homeland Security funding bill. It would reopen DHS and reopen and get our airports running again. And they did that for one reason, because they are trying to protect criminal illegal aliens. That's what this entire debate is about. And there's no way for them to hide from that. And they keep putting votes on the board. I've suggested, and I suggested yesterday in a press conference, we should probably take this vote tally, blow it up on a poster and put it at every airport terminal around America.
- [27:12]
Tony Kennett
Again, not bad. He's catching some shrapnel for this. Why aren't you doing something? This ain't one that's on Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House has cobbled together bill after bill after bill after bill after bill from the Save America act all the way over to funding proposals of every which way shape and sort and has sent them over to the Senate Once they get over to the Senate, a giant crap is taken on the table by Senate Democrats and then Republicans won't fight it out. That's what you're getting right now. And it's frustrating to a lot of Americans. Now we do have some, some breaking news that is coming in as of 7:24pm from the President of the United States announcing that he's, he's going to sign a, an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to pay Transportation Security workers directly because again, TSA workers are quitting in droves now. But before we get to that, we're going to have to talk about some of the senators that are doing kind of nothing right now and then bring the radio crew back in from commercial as well. It's the Tony Kinnett cast here on the Daily Signal. We have all of the news to cover, including some breaking news on a possible executive order from the President of the United States. It's the Tony Kinnit cast. This is the Tony Kinnid cast on 93 WYPC. All right, we have breaking news from the Trump administration. An announcement that the president will attempt to fund the Department of Homeland Security and the Tran and the Transportation Security Administration via, via pulling existing funds directly from the Department of Homeland Security's big beautiful bill allotment. And the reason the president is making this claim as he considers this to be an emergency situation. So the, the actual post from the president of the United States, we're, we're getting that pulled up. Accuses Democrats of, quote, refusing to fund immigration enforcement and creating chaos, chaos at the airports, while thanking TSA agents for his, for their service. Quote, the radical left Democrats and their leader crying Chuck Schumer have made it very clear where they stand and that is on the side of criminal illegal aliens and not the American people. He then talks about some of the things that that has caused as far as a crisis. He says, because the Democrats have recklessly created a true national crisis, I am using my authorities under the law to protect our great country as I will always do. Therefore, I'm going to sign an order instructing the Secretary of Homeland, Homeland Security, Mark Wayne Mullen, to immediately pay our TSA agents in order to address this emergency situation and to quickly stop the Democrat chaos at the airports. He said it's not an easy thing to do, but I'm going to do it. I want to thank our hardworking TSA agents and also ICE for the incredible help they have given us at the airports. I will not allow radical left Democrats to hold our country hostage any longer. That is the key statement from the president, not allow the Democrats to hold the country hostage. Essentially, that is what's going on right now. The Democrats saying we're going to split up a department and funding and poison pill a bunch of funding bills and suggest that this kind of reform needs to shut down TSA across the country does immobilize the United States. And if it immobilizes an entire sector of the American economy, of, of course, the safety of our citizens at airports. Yeah, you can consider that to be some kind of national crisis. Now, what federal judge, probably Chief justice of D.C. james Boasberg, is going to move forward and probably write some kind of a bill or, excuse me, write some kind of a hold or a stay or a freeze that says, actually, Trump, you can't do that. I'm sure that's coming. And what a wild scene that will be. But again, the President of the United States attempting to fund this independently, we'll have to see. Now, I did mention that there are some senators who are going out and trying to talk a tough game when Americans at this point, even those who used to be for Republicans, keeping the filibuster active, they're tired of it. Because Americans are already an impatient bunch when it comes to political matters. They are getting very, very impatient with travel being effectively immobilized at a large number of airports around the country. So, for example, Senator John Husted from Ohio kind of strutted out this this afternoon and made a video about how disappointed he was in the Democrats. And they're doing everything. He's doing everything he can, this kind of thing. Here you go. I just came off the floor. We voted on the photo ID amendment that I proposed. Every Republican voted for it, every Democrat voted against it. They really made themselves clear they're not for photo ID or election integrity under any circumstance. We put a clean bill before them,
- [32:12]
Ed Ruse
strict photo ID only photo id, making
- [32:14]
Tony Kennett
it easy to vote and hard to cheat. Every Republican said yes, every Democrat said no. So here's the current line right now. Again, the Department of Homeland Security is still shut down. And we've received promises for Republicans in the Senate. They're going to get the Save America act passed. They're going to get voter ID requirements passed before the country. And the House has sent over all of these bills. All of these bills. Americans are losing their patience with this because again, DHS is shut down again, because the Save America act, which is incredibly popular across all three primary polling demographics, those being Democrats, Republicans and Independents is not getting pushed through. So then we get senators come out going, well, I, I, I submitted this amendment that was going to totally just do voter id and I've just done everything that I can, but I guess that wasn't enough. This is where you should understand, Americans are starting to not care about these kind of videos and kind of preening and posturing from even yes, Republican senators. He is getting roasted over in his own comment section, his own, like, support group, theoretically by individuals, constituents in his state who are simply saying, dude, just remove the filibuster, either cook or get out of the kitchen. Either do something or get out of the way. Americans do not care about posturing. We get that enough with influencers on social media. You get that enough with pundits on the air. Americans want results. That is all that matters to them. That's why the generic congressional ballot is narrowing. Not because Republicans are doing anything super special, because everyone hates Congress. And it's starting to get a lot worse. Now, lest you think that this is all about the Republicans failing to act. Yeah, I mean it's cowardly at this point not to simply get rid of the filibuster. Democrats aren't doing themselves any favors. So I will remind you that Senator John Fetterman, who I've called Senator John Betterman of Pennsylvania for being a pretty decently honest guy, although I disagree with him on a ton, he has in the last week shown himself to be a liar who absolutely does not show himself to be any kind of use when it comes to being a reliable vote in the Senate for kind of common sense policies and proposals. I'll remind you that he said he was totally for just voter id. If Republicans would just do it, only voter id, nothing to do with the voter rolls, nothing to do with, with what kind of ID you get or how you get it, then I'll vote for it, he said. Here he was again just back in February making this promise. Do you have time for a quick question on the Save America Act?
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Dick Durbin
I mean, I've been very front and center on it. I'm not sure what the agenda is now. If they have a serious conversation that's just provide basic ID to vote, you know, like I was somebody that could support that.
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Tony Kennett
Okay, and what is it about the
- [35:02]
Elizabeth Warren
current legislation that you have a problem with?
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Tony Kennett
Because you did support it before because
- [35:06]
Dick Durbin
it has no chance of passing. So like put up something that has a chance to may even pass. Unless you just want empty kind of show votes. If they want that, that's their prerogative I'll be a, I'll be a reasonable Democrat to say showing ID to vote. That's 83% of Americans agree with that. 71% of Democrats do.
- [35:28]
Tony Kennett
Make sure that, by the way, that one point that he promised, that was the only thing up for the amendment today. That was it. Just for federal elections. You have to show id. That's it. He voted no. So he's a liar. That's a lie. You made the promise. It's a lie. And by the way, as a quick reminder, Americans do remember these particular things. So that aside, this brings us over to what the actual focus appears to be. So if they're not whining, you know, about not getting to go home, if you know they're not whining on that, what are we actually seeing from those members of Congress? Influencer hell. I'm not joking in just absolute garbage that is supposed to impress you in some way, shape or form. Again, tsa, the Department of Homeland Security is immobilized. Our Coast Guardsmen are not getting paid. The TSA are not getting paid. They are quitting en masse. Airports are about to be shut down. There have been five terror attacks based on the Iranians and their insane movements in the last month. 5. Americans are tired of this crap. But it's okay. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, she's got the solutions, she's got the answer. It pains me. This is not edited. We didn't trim this up or make it fancy. This is from Elizabeth Warren. Today,
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Elizabeth Warren
These moms in tennis shoes are teaming up to deliver childcare for American families.
- [37:00]
Tony Kennett
Slit my wrists with bargain dollar store scissors. Hey guys, we're just, you know, a couple of cool, hip happening moms, you know, I mean, hey guys, you ever thought about wearing sneakers? I. Oh my gosh, it's awful. This is it. This is. This is what? This is why Americans despise the Senate. We'll let them continue though. Patty Murray and Elizabeth Warren here, the Democrats are promising they've got a better alternative. Let's hear it.
- [37:30]
Elizabeth Warren
That's right. Right now, a two child household would need to make about $400,000 dollars a year for child care to be affordable. Look, it's a crisis and it's been a crisis for a long time.
- [37:43]
Tony Kennett
You know, they have. So for those who are listening and you're not watching, they have multiple camera angles set up so they can do the, well, you know, the multiple angle camera set. They're senators again. Right now the DHS is shut down. What are they talking about? The government Pumping money into childcare. You know, the thing that Americans, according to polling data, are quite aware, has been riddled. And I mean riddled like a Chicago mobster picked up a tommy gun and pointed it at a Model T. Riddled with fraud around the country. The child care system right here, if it receives state or federal funding, whether we're talking California, whether we're talking Minnesota, whether we're talking New York, riddled with fraud, they want to federalize child care funding.
- [38:29]
Elizabeth Warren
I got into politics when a lawmaker called me just a mom in tennis shoes for trying to save a preschool program. Well, I did save that program, and I've been fighting for our kids since. But Congress needs to go way bigger on childcare. And I remember when I was a young mom and I was about an
- [38:46]
Tony Kennett
inch away, you know, when I was a young Native American woman on the reservation, just, okay, so they take another minute and a half to get through again. What makes me want to stick the shiniest metal forks into my eye sockets to say, well, what the Senate really needs to do is be pumping federal government money into the most fraudulent program, except for the Somali migrant Medicare and Medicaid fraud programs. So just incredible. Thrilling. Radio crew will catch you guys on the other side of the commercial. Lots more to cover. It's the Tony Kinnit cast here on the Daily Signal. Now, you might be saying, tony, you're cherry picking. I mean, come on, that's just one video out of all of these. No, no, my dear friends, it's. It's really not.
- [39:30]
Elizabeth Warren
You know that feeling you get when you find five bucks in your pocket? Look, you know how much Jeff Bezos would have to find in his pocket for it to mean the same thing to him?
- [39:40]
Tony Kennett
You ever wanted to jump in front of moving vehicles? Because listening to Elizabeth Warren, every one of the Senate Democrats is pumping out these kind of videos constantly. Now, this hasn't worked. It didn't work for Kamala and, you know, Brad, Summer, remember, you know, campaigning, going out and talking about her. Well, let's see. Her menstruation cycle. Her menstrual cycle. Remember how exciting that was? Oh, wow, she's such a cool mom candidate. We're doing the same crap now for the midterms amid active crises in the country. So, sure, yeah, Republicans aren't actually moving through and knocking out the filibuster, which I find obnoxious and annoying. I don't particularly care for that. You know, the laziness I don't care for. But whatever. This influencer let them eat Cake crap is as though Elizabeth Warren making complaints about Jeffrey Bezos is the solution to all of your problems. Or Patty Murray talking about her cool tennis shoes. Awful. Absolutely horrible. It is one of the reasons why individuals like Representative Brandon Gill is more useful. And again, all of these senators that I'm talking about right now, what are they focusing on? They're consistently focusing on things that are either already said and, like, settled and done influencer campaigns, or they're talking about their own, like, retribution scheme. Dick Durbin from Illinois had the same routine where he's announcing his, like, retribution streak. And accountability's a comin'. Here you go.
- [41:11]
Dick Durbin
So think about three weeks ago, three weeks ago, a member of the President's Cabinet who had basically told the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Judiciary Committee to go straight to hell for a full year and refuse to appear before the committee.
- [41:26]
Tony Kennett
So, first of all, I know that he's, like, complaining about Christy Noem here, but I'm sorry, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee to go straight to hell for one year. Do not pass Go. Do not, you know, collect $200. Given the current state of the Senate, I kind of agree.
- [41:41]
Dick Durbin
Oversight finally relented and said, okay, I'll do the Senate on Tuesday, I'll do the House on Wednesday, and that'll be the end of the stuff is showing up in front of Congress. Her name was Kristi Noem.
- [41:53]
Tony Kennett
Look, he said that. He says that like, he said, her name is Kristi. No. Amazing. And by the way, I'm going to cut the rest of the clip off. He says, oh, hey, yeah. And we got her removed. No, what got Kristi Noem removed, Bud, is that she went before the country and before the Senate and said, yeah, Donald. She said to Joe Kennedy, who didn't let her off the hook. She said to Kennedy, yeah, President Trump personally authorized this extremely expensive advertising campaign of me on horseback. And then also that her own department was against her and Corey Lewandowski because their affair was more important than running the department. That's why Trump got her out of there. It had nothing to do with Dick Durbin and his sleepy nonsense. So. So, again, best of luck to you if you think that this is the move right now. This will, by the way, this is the kind of stuff that will eventually get even Jon Thune to just go ahead and knock over the filibuster and just go ahead and do it, because this kind of stuff does great on even the most mediocre and moderate of souls. We're gonna pick up the radio crew from Commercial. Don't go anywhere. We haven't even started on half of the news. It's the Tony Kennett cast. This is the Tony Kennett cast on 93 WYPC. So as a quick reminder, right now, the United States stands opposed to a number of these high elitist, moral Trojan horses who suggest firmly and passionately that they are the solution to everything. If you just start spending tons of money on state run health care like they all do, and you just play nice and import the maximum number of migrants, everything's going to be wonderful and fine. And it has become a sure gateway to some of the darkest human horrors imaginable. Case in point in Spain, a young Spanish woman euthanized today after a group of illegal migrants gang raped her while she was in state care. In 2022, the teenager, Noelia Castillo Ramos, placed in a state institution amid family difficulties, placed in a state run home together with a North African group of migrant minors, she was brutally gang raped. And of course, that trauma was horrible to her as are, as is that kind of trauma to all of those who are sexually assaulted, but her especially so given that she was supposed to be in a place that was safe, a state run center to keep her safe from again, the trauma that she had from her home life. However, Spain later announced that because she was suffering from depression that they were going to give her access to assisted state run suicide. No, no, I don't mean political suicide. Spain announced that it was the right of this young lady, Noelia, who was suffering from depression because she was raped. Instead of, you know, tamping down on the migrant situation, instead of, you know, trying to get her the right kind of therapy and counsel that works. Instead of putting her in a place where she might be able to heal over time. Because sexual assault trauma and rape trauma is not something that you get over with in just even a couple of years. Instead they said, well, you're depressed, you know what, you can kill yourself. Months later, after the rape, Noelia attempted suicide by jumping from the fifth floor of a building. She survived, but the fall left her paraplegic. And by the way, the rapists have never been arrested and do in fact remain free. Is Spain putting all of their resources into finding the rapists? Nope, absolutely not. Instead they say, you know what, you've already attempted suicide. You didn't do it. So hey, we'll follow Canada's approach and let you kill yourself. My God in heaven, what a horrible and horrific thing to do. Her father, by the way, passionately attempted to forbid this from moving forward because the father understandably didn't want to see his little girl commit suicide. And these are again, this is the regime that a lot of Americans are praising right now for standing up to big old mean Mr. Trump. Now over here in the United States, I'm afraid the mental illness runs just as deep. And there are a series of protests happening in Manhattan as well as in Philadelphia calling for some of the world's worst people to be released from prison. So first and foremost, a group of protesters outside a court in Manhattan were chanting for Nicholas Maduro to be released from prison. And actual immigrants from Venezuela were standing there horrified at the chance for the dictator that had abused them, their families, who has, who has personally ordered the executions of countless thousands to be released and set free. Here's what that looked like. I believe this clip is over from Reuters. We're here to demand freedom for President Maduro and First Lady Celia Flores. We've come from all across the U.S. and so again, some random beta, low testosterone individual here standing there going, we've come from everywhere because, I mean, think about it, the US Is very, very bad and dictators should go free because Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid told me so. I'm from Michigan myself to demand that they be set free by the Trump administration. They've done nothing wrong. They've committed no crimes. As a Venezuelan, from the Venezuelans at the protest, the counter protesters were outraged because again, here are all of these humpty dumpty American goobers, the soft handed leftist progressives who do nothing for nobody, who have nothing better to do but get out there and protest that the Trump administration released dictators back onto the streets. So important to be here representing my country, the people that want freedom. And I'm so like upset with all these people, but that's why we are here. So the counter protesters showed up, said, again, I'm from Venezuela, here in the United States, love this country, happy to be here, love the American people. These counter, these, these protesters chanting for his freedom are insane. That is not the worst protest of the day. I, I unfortunately have to show you over in Philadelphia, the pro Palestine crowd, right? The, the pro Islamist crowd, the, the pro Muslim culture crowd is chanting and cheering for the body bags of US Servicemen. I'm not joking, I'm not exaggerating, horrified. Here you go. Until we have done everything in our power to bring the United States to its knees, let us not lose sight of the enemy. Now I'm going to level with you. If you are openly declaring your support for a Foreign power. A foreign power. And in declaring support for that foreign power to bring the US to its knees, that's not covered under the freedom of speech. That is not at all covered under any First Amendment right that one has. You should be, if you are lucky, deported. But I'll. I'll. I'm sorry. I'll let this, this absolute fool continue. Wherever US Military base that crumbles over every US Soldier who returns home in the casket, we sham. For every US Military member that returns in a casket, we cheer. This is why I don't feel bad when I see trucks and cars driving through protests. That's why. It's why. I don't. I don't. I don't feel bad for that. If there is someone in Philadelphia and someone out there who knows who this individual is and deals with this personally, I won't shed a tear. I don't care. The Philadelphia DA is currently threatening ICE agents for helping check bags at the airport. And now you have someone who right here is openly calling for the deaths of United States soldiers who he claims will do everything he can to bring America to its knees. First of all, if you don't want to be here, leave. No one wants you here. You're not doing anything. I don't care if you're the superst stuporist, brain surgeon, poet laureate, lesbian lover that's ever existed. Get out. Number two, if someone who sees this, who happens to have a family member that has served in the military or has fought and defended this country, catches you in a dark alley, I'm not going to shed a tear. I just hope they get both your kneecaps. Oh, Tony, you can't say that. You can't say that. That's terrible. I'm sorry. I don't care. I don't care. That kind of scum, that kind of filth doesn't deserve to be in the country. They shouldn't be here. And every second that they have remaining in this country breathing is one second too many. The truest and lowest of filth. And with those dulcet and lovely tones. To the radio crew. Before we catch some more on the news side. We'll catch you guys later tomorrow for our final night of coverage for the week, 7pm Eastern. Lots more news we didn't get to cover then, so we'll catch you guys up on that tomorrow. We're going to continue on the live stream YouTube.com dailysignal for a lot more news. It's the Tony Knitcast here on the Daily Signal. Nationally syndicated and first on 93 WIBC. Now, that stuff aside, I'm sorry, I hope I get emails that are like, you can't say that kind of stuff on the air. That's so mean. Oh, shucks, that's a real, that's a real shame. So again, it's not just yours truly who's making these cases. A lot of Americans are waking up to, and I don't like the phrase waking up. A lot of Americans have never stopped being exhausted of this kind of pro Islamic, anti American nonsense. One of these individuals, by the way, is Brandon Gill, representative of Texas. He sat down with our Bradley Devlin and delivered what may be one of the greatest lines of common sense on this particular issue that has been delivered in the open and at least the last couple of years. Here's Brandon Gill with our Bradley Devlin.
- [52:02]
Brandon Gill
We say you've got again a disconnect between Democrats in Washington and the rest of the country. And I think most of the country has noticed a pattern that whenever you hear somebody scream Allahu Akbar in a public area, you need to get away because a bomb is going to go off or somebody's going to get shot up. It's very different than a Christian saying God bless you or hearing other blessings from other religions. Whenever you hear it in the name of Islam, you're probably going to get killed. And that's just a basic cultural truth we ought to acknowledge. And I think most people see this is a damning indictment of American immigration policy. You know, most people, again, put, put Democrats in Washington aside. Most people recognize that we shouldn't allow terrorists or somebody who is likely prone to terroristic violence into the country legally, illegally at all. They should never come here. And yet you think how, you know, gee, I wonder if there was some way we could have predicted that this Muslim guy from Senegal named Mohammed, whatever Mohammed Jahul or whatever his name was, is likely to be a terrorist. I wonder if there's some way we could have predicted that. I mean, we can use some common sense here and recognize basic patterns that can keep our people safe. And yet the left, against all evidence, is willing to throw all of that out in order for some bizarre, perverse, politically correct dogma that is going to get people killed.
- [53:36]
Tony Kennett
You know, I mean, there is a little something. There was a little something to that. There is indeed a little something to that. Now, I, I do, I do want to point out one thing here, that when I say that a lot of the country is truly getting tired of a lot of this nonsense, it is not, is Not a suggestion that this means that, well, they're all of the sudden super supportive of, of Republicans and everything that they're doing. But I do mean that even in the blue areas of the country, that Democrats are no longer getting the proper love and heartfelt warm respect of fighting for the rights of everyone, the kind of nonsense that they typically enjoy. For example, Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, and opening day today was out for a game and he got absolutely wrecked. Booed in one of the most prominent kind of like boo politics politician videos that I've seen in a while. So happy opening day to everyone on the tkc. All right, that's a, that's pretty prominent boo right there. I, I, I gotta, I gotta level with you here of, of all, of again, of all of the things that one can do. Yeah, sorry, I'm, I'm, I realized that only played kind of mono in, in, in one ear. When you have the governor of your state out there and he goes out, you know, gonna stand before everybody, very, very proud, excited, that kind of a thing, and everybody and their brother starts roasting him over the open fire. Not a good sign. All he can do is stand there and awkwardly, you know, just kind of stand there awkwardly and give it the ol. It's a big oof. That's a, that's one large oof for the governor of Maryland. So, you know, again, you don't have to make bad decisions like this. But you know, hey, one of the individuals that makes these cases maybe I would give a little advice. Stop putting forward the worst people that you can find as your next bold, exciting new Democrat. Representative Delia Ramirez. She was going to be one of the young ladies who came forward and, and was, you know, common sense and everyone was going to love her. Here she was today on the House floor. We will melt ice. And I have a bill to do just that. We will dismantle the Department of Homeland Security because frankly, at this juncture, nothing less is acceptable. We're going to get rid of ice and we're going to get rid of the Department of Homeland Security. Well, well, you can't claim to be common sense, you know, Keem Jeffries out there saying, well, you know, we all support, you know, Homeland Security and, and keeping things safe and then throw all of your weight behind young ladies like this. Yikes. Now on, on the other side of the news, cuz there is more news than, than just that. I do want to give kind of some of the other updates on sort of the, the polling information here right now in, in the rest of the country, there are all of these various plans being enacted by state governments to try to ease some of the economic strain, reduce some kinds of construction regulations. And this isn't just happening in, in red states, but it's also happening over in, in blue states. It's not going over very well though in some blue states when guys like Zoran Mandani, you know, he kind of came out and announced that, hey, you know, you guys were crushed by rent. I'm gonna fix it all of the sudden, you know, we're gonna start building a bunch of houses and property. Even New York City residents aren't buying this anymore. Who here has been crushed by rents that go up year after year? Maybe he has not had his rents grown over. Who you're really not supposed to have that happen now. You know, his wife, who, who's usually at this time of day, you know, shouting the, the N word and, and talking about how much she loves jihad. You know, I mean, she's a little busy with stuff. We're not allowed to talk about her because she's, you know, a non political figure or whatever. But you know, if Mamdani is spending his days hosting little Ramadan singing circles instead of doing even the things that he suggests, remember all these articles, well, he's gonna get out there and he's just gonna solve common sense problems. And who would have thought that the rapper in an apron, the son of a producer and a professor, would be about as useful as a paper wide doorstop? Who would have believed that Zoran Mamdani would have been just as useless as every other proud socialist over on the left? And these are the kind of things that are consistently going to drive a lot of the sentiment away from kind of large scale national influencer type campaigns. And they're also losing a lot of their own. So when I say they're losing a lot of their own, I mean over on the education side as well. An underreported story over the last couple of months is that the teachers unions are in a complete and utter crisis. So there are several states now where pockets of teachers unions are rebelling against their own state's leadership, because teachers unions have been exposed for essentially just being cash grabs for union leadership and nothing else. They're not representing teachers. They're not keeping them safe in the classroom. Again, when former teachers like yours truly got in front of the country and said classrooms are violent. And we are told by our administrations to just, you know, sit there and grin and bear it and it's probably our fault anyway. And then as an administrator, when I watched the principal over at Arsenal Tech High School, no longer the principal there yell at his own staff. And when a teacher had suggested, well, you know, I had, you know, a certain number of students who failed my class this quarter, then the principal yelled that he was a racist and he needed to go. Do you know all of this atonement and penance and all this stuff? A lot of teachers that are still in the teachers union, they can only take so much of that. So you have large pockets around the country that are revolting from those teachers unions. One of those places is in fact in my home state of Indiana where I was reached out to by a friend of mine who is very close to some of the inner city Indianapolis community and reported that a large section of the Indiana State Teachers association has essentially gone on strike from their own teachers union until they get the series of demands met, like reinstating the Indiana professional staff organization. And also really angry and upset at essentially some of the corrupt hiring practices inside the organization. Former principals, even in the bluest of areas have completely abandoned the left wing public education model. We're going to kick over in just a second to former Seattle principal Ed Ruse, who was put through the ringer by his own school district and a phenomenal man who has now moved on to advocating for the kinds of garb or advocating for or advocating against, excuse me, the kinds of garbage that is pumped out by the Seattle public school system in favor of more classical and parent centric approaches where they're not shoving, as we just found another case of with the Los Angeles Unified School District, a bunch of ridiculous hypergender and racist theory garbage shoved at elementary school students. So we're going to kick over to that interview. It's a really good one. Don't go anywhere. It's the Tony Kinnid cast here on the Daily Signal, The Tony Kennett cast on 93 WIBC. Not very often that I, a former school administrator, get to talk to another former school administrator, Ed Ruse, former principal and survivor of the Seattle public education system. And right into some of the concepts at hand just to make sure we use your time as valuably as possible. In the last couple years public education, do you think that a net positive or maybe a loss after coming out of COVID have we made any good changes?
- [62:09]
Ed Ruse
I don't think so. I don't think we've reacted as we should. And I could come at this from a education standpoint. I led our team into Covid. It was a quick, rapid change and just unprecedented. And coming out of COVID I think the schools have had a hard time recovering. And I'll come at it from even a parent standpoint. I had a kid in middle school, one in high school at that time and you know, just for lack of a better term, they really dumbed down the curriculum at that time. They didn't have homework. I don't think they were being held accountable like they should have been academically. And then coming out of this, there needed to be this slow amping up of okay, let's start to give more homework, let's start to hold them more accountable. And there just wasn't a good plan coming out. And I think as a result I'm still seeing some dumbing down in the curriculum and the expectations are not where they were back in 2019 before.
- [63:09]
Tony Kennett
It's something that at least as far as I remember right before we went into the COVID lockdown, I'd actually finished my. One of my graduate theses was on the advent of kind of the online education thing that was coming. I thought it was probably going to be more weather or infrastructure issues causing a long term absence from school, rather like a return of the Blizzard of 76 for example, rather than, you know, the concept of long term pandemic stuff. But coming out of it, the dumbing down of standards just everywhere. And I remember seeing this as a teacher, because I was a teacher going into Covid, I was an administrator coming out of it and just seeing this patent insanity of treating high school students like they were elementary children. And I mean even then, I mean, not how elementary students used to be even taught. I'm really starting to be concerned about some of the long term expectations for our kids because we're seeing it into the early job market with Gen Z lightly.
- [64:12]
Ed Ruse
And you know, we have this weird lawsuit out here in Washington state which is in just a town over where I from, where I am, where a parent is suing the Edmonds school district because her daughter graduated from high school reading at a third grade level. So I think really parents are. Yeah, Isn't that bizarre? Well, they'd be interesting to follow that and see where that goes.
- [64:33]
Tony Kennett
I'm gonna give a friend of mine, actually who I used to run Chalkboard review with, Daniel Buck, he's head of the conservative education reform network over at aei. He hasn't told me this. Usually he tells me these things. I'm going to give him grief over not telling me about this lawsuit. That's it's almost like a post transition lawsuit, but for the education side of things.
- [64:55]
Ed Ruse
Okay. So much to Seattle Schools credit. You know, they wanted to know what was going on post 2020 and the shutdown. So they went to a really deep dive. It's on their website. They hired an organization called Strategies360, a full service research firm out here in the Northwest.
- [65:13]
Tony Kennett
Right.
- [65:15]
Ed Ruse
Their study asked current and former families basically what's going on and here's what they discovered. That since 2019 they've lost 11,000 students. So they see this huge decline in enrollment and they want to know why. They ask people why you left. And 86% of them said that it was due to the low quality of education. We could certainly get into the details of lowering the bar and what that means and specifically. But it's pretty clear that they had lowered the bar and had not raised it since. And families are leaving. 45% of them said they didn't like that. Seattle Schools had dismantled their highly capable program. Again, because of the optics of it and maybe not, let's see, that it was not that it was equity based, not merit based. And so they started to dismantle the programs. They asked me to dismantle mine. I had one when I was principal. They came out and said, hey, look, white students are overrepresented here. And I said, no, they're not. They're 60% of our population, 50% of the highly capable program. And they said, well, and the black students are underrepresented. I said, again, they're 7% of the school population, 10% of this program. It's right where it should be. And my boss got mad and said, look, anyone can walk in here and see that the optics of this are not good.
- [66:39]
Tony Kennett
Same thing in Indianapolis. They said, we're going to bring in Indiana University my boss, Bobby Sargent, who, and I mean this as insultingly as possible because she was insufferably arrogant for how little she brought to her director level position behind her back. We often called her Barbie. I mean, you know, a little of that, you know, staff wise, maybe not appropriate. But she said, we got to bring Indiana University and do a big, huge study on why all of our white students are overperforming and our Hispanic students are underperforming. And again, I did the same thing you did. I said, no, this percentage of our population, Indianapolis, are Hispanic students. They are overrepresented in the gifted student programs. So we're doing the outreach as intended by Patricia Payne's horrid equity racial program. Like, shouldn't we focus on shoring up the community? Like, what if we had leaders from the Hispanic community come in and talk about real life application, like career day stuff, you know, get kids excited about adulting. And I was called racist for that. I was so. And I'm not trying to be dramatic here. I was never more confused than I'm when I was driving home from Broad Ripple in Indianapolis those days.
- [67:50]
Ed Ruse
Yeah.
- [67:50]
Tony Kennett
And I don't hear anyone else say this like you have before. Sorry. That's why.
- [67:53]
Ed Ruse
What year was that, by the way?
- [67:54]
Tony Kennett
That was 2021.
- [67:57]
Ed Ruse
So it was force quota. That was impossible statistically to me. They wanted to look more 50. 50. That was absolutely statistically impossible. When we have 7% of the population was black, 60% was white, you're not going to get to 50, 50.
- [68:11]
Tony Kennett
And it's just strict racial quotaing is such. I mean, in our public education training now, you know, I mean, the obvious in the room will say, well, Tony, you two are clearly not the same age. I mean, you're clearly aging much better than I am. So. And in that instance, we still have that. That visceral reaction to the idea of racial quotas in our classrooms that induces bile. And to hear it talked about by these high academics in such a way, I mean, look at me. I've literally sat forward in my chair hearing you. It's like I've been triggered like some long sleeper cell waiting to awake. Yeah.
- [68:46]
Ed Ruse
And there's a lot more to that. And I won't repeat a lot of this stuff that could go to my website. Edwardroost.com I have links to media stories that go into more detail. But you know, something else that was interesting about these statistics is that a lot of the families who had left, 40% of them says are willing to come back if Seattle school changes what they're doing. And then they went into this, hey, what's the most important priority for Seattle schools in the future? Only 10% of those responses were on equity and equal opportunity. I think they're getting a clear message that equity and equal opportunity are not a high important. They're not of high importance. It's kind of low on the list here. And then right below there, 5% of people stated that they want a curriculum change that is anti woke, anti indoctrination and merit back in the curriculum. So these two things are sending a very clear message to Seattle schools that if you want to get us back, you have to stop indoctrinating our students and get back to merit based curriculum and grading.
- [69:56]
Tony Kennett
Now we're going to upload the rest of that interview with Ed Ruse over on the YouTube channel for the Daily Signal. We'll get that up here pretty soon. But that said, we do have to move over to a bit of new information on the attempted terror attack outside of MacDill Air Force Force Base. New information here. Alan Zhang, age 20, and his sister Anne Mary Zhang, age 27, both are US citizens from the Tampa area near Land O Lakes, Florida. They planted an IED outside of the visitor center at MacDill Air Force Base. Dale Marby gate and then Allen the mail made an anonymous 911 call. The device was later located and safely removed. That's according to WVTM13. Now the day after the 911 call, the siblings sold the black Mercedes Benz SUV that Alan had used to transport the device and then bought plane tickets. So they departed for China a little bit earlier this month. That's according to U.S. attorney Gregory Kehoe, who explicitly stated during a press conference today, March 26, that they had left for China from Tampa. So it appears that they were able to leave for China from Tampa International Airport. Now, no other US Airports mentioned or other information regarding any reporting or official statements. And Mary Zhang, his sister has now had now returned to the United States and was then arrested as soon as she stopped upon arrival. Now some reports note that it's Detroit where she entered back into the US when she was taken into custody. As of right now, Alan Zhang, who still is reported to be the guy who dropped off the IED at MacDill, he remains in China. Now right now there aren't any additional details on diplomatic demands and things like that. But still pretty wild that they were able just to make a call about the making sure I have this right here. Yes, that they made the call and then were able to flee the country beforehand. Now again, of course it's very good thing that the device was located by FBI in Tampa and they were able to stop it. Still terrifyingly close there. Very, very important. And I also do wonder one of the comments points out I wonder why she came back. I'm also curious to see you know how how it was that she out was that she, she came back so that that set in the side. I want to get over to just a little bit of mail time before we are done with the show this evening. Just a bit. Again, if you have a question over on the mail time side of things, there's a link to the discord in our description and there are a couple of people who have very, very kindly left super chats. That's not something that you guys need to do, although we are very grateful for it. Kevi Stankiewicz, a $10 super chat. He says Trump should have fully funded ICE and hired most of the hundreds of the former TSA agents previously trained and experienced on TSA screening equipment, but who had quit to help ICE replace the TSA agents who quit. Not a bad idea. We'll have to see how this goes. Oftentimes when there are individuals who quit, there's kind of a back pay and rehiring strategy that comes forward after there's some funding. We'll have to see how that, you know, half that, how that kind of meters out. One question from Betsy Burns, good friend of the show, says Tony, if the Republicans get rid of the filibuster, can't it be put back? Nope. Once a Senate rule like that is broken, it's like Pandora's box that is open for good. You know, after the again, a quote that I do Enjoy, a classic 2013 quote from Mitch McConnell before, you know, we got old and started creaking like an old turtle to Harry Reid, who back at the time incorporated the very first of the nuclear optioning in the barely Democrat Senate. This famous quote from Mitch McConnell stays on the soundboard for this reason alone. Say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, you'll regret this. And you may regret it a lot sooner than you think. And so once those rules are open again, I'm at this point I'm for getting rid of the filibuster as a rule. I do believe that the very last two Democrats who were opposed to getting rid of the filibuster were Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin. I don't know if you know this, they're currently not in the Senate anymore and both of them, I believe, are no longer Democrats. I know for sure Manchin isn't. I don't think Sinema is a registered Democrat anymore. So they're going to get rid of it as soon as they retain or retake power in the Senate. So, you know, I'd say again, get the filibuster out of the way then, since it's going and get a few things passed again, voter ID sounds like an important thing given how popular it is with Americans. That's from the mouth of Fetterman himself. Another super chat from Kevin Stankowitz. Dude, you don't have to do this. A kind $10 super chat, he said. Senate Leader John Thune Stay in the Senate and the zombie filibuster, pass the Save America act, fund DHS and confirm all of Trump's appointment or resign and let Senate Majority Leader Mike Lee do it. Now you bring up an interesting point here. I like Mike Lee of Utah. He's a good guy. We've talked a couple of times. You do not get to guarantee who takes power after a leader is ousted. It is a genuine miracle that we were able to get as good of a House speaker as we got after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from speaker of the House. And whenever you do, you know. Yeah, thanks. Producer Daniel Kirsten Cinema is now an independent. Good to know as far as ousting leadership. Ousting leadership is always really great when you do it. And then again, I'm not saying Thune's fantastic. This isn't a defense for Thune. There is a little something to the devil you know is worse than or the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. And in this case, you know who again, remember, one of the last top contenders for the Senate Majority Leader position was John Cornyn, who's currently not doing so hot in his primary against Ken Paxton in the runoff in Texas. So also very, very kind from Dave fallen. A $10 super chat said keep bringing it. Tony, thanks. Very, very kind of you. Really appreciate that. One of the last questions that I'll answer for the evening is from Lisa over in the the Discord chat. She says, if the US takes Carg island, what happens to the 8,000ish people that live there? Haven't heard any mention in the media at all about this. I have to be careful because I do have some information that I'm not really allowed to release about the actual estimates on Carg island. It ain't 8,000. 8,000 is the former estimate of how many people are alive on Carg Island. A lot of them oil and refinery workers. A lot of those people have fled. I'll say this very likely right now on Carg island. Less than 2,000 people, if that. There are very few that are currently there on Carg Island. A bare bones team to say the least. What's going to happen to them? Well, I mean, if they are there under the gun of the IRGC and they're just workers at the petrochemical facilities, then I mean, it's pretty likely that they would continue doing the stuff that they're doing. I mean, they'd have to be, you know, vetted and talked to. I'm not really sure, but they're usually in that kind of an instance based on the number of individuals that we estimate are currently on the island in several ways, shapes and fashions the idea that we don't have some potential plans in place if seizing that island for what would happen there. Pretty slim. Pretty, pretty slim indeed that there aren't those particular plans in place. Well, I go ahead and do one last mail time question before we ship out for the evening from Tina. Question. If they get rid of the filibuster, what stops them? I'm assuming you mean the Democrats from passing something like Sharia law. Okay, so the answer to this question is the President and the courts. So first of all, Sharia law is incompatible with the United States Constitution. It just is in and of itself. On its face, it's incompatible. While yes, a lot of times it's rather obnoxious through this administration to see a lot of justices, a lot of judges on the federal level that are simply throwing flags and stopping things for activism purposes. There are absolutely a couple of right wing judges who do that and did that during the Biden administration and those judges still do exist. There's no way the Supreme Court ever lets that fly. Dearborn's tried this. It is because of Gretchen Whitmer's administration that nothing has really been done there yet. But as far as the idea, I mean, Ken Paxton actually, I believe just secured a victory against the development of a Sharia community in Texas. Texas. You guys should definitely go check out the interview with Brandon Gill and Bradley Devlin for that episode of the Signal. Sit down. The link to that is already in the description. But according to the release from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office, quote, following an investigation by AG Ken Paxton, plans for the development of a potentially unlawful Sharia city community in Kaufman county have ended. And that's the way that it should be. It's not, it's not constitutional. And I really don't necessarily believe that that is on the horizon per se. But yeah, I mean, nuclear option things from the Senate are a possibility. One of the reasons for the filibuster is that fewer bills are supposed to pass. But we've become a country that's so reliant on the judicial branch as well as the executive agency as kind of the tit for tat back and forth holders of power and legislative enforcement that Congress matters less and less and less. So ending the filibuster is, is really a way of saying we know Americans are lazy and they're too lazy to elect a Senate that does things so Instead, we're going to allow the Senate to operate on a margin that is a lot smaller. So again, really all of this is an indictment on a lot of Americans who've been able to enjoy the fruits of the end of the Cold War and be lazy and let someone else care about politics. They don't care about politics. How many people do we know that that's their take on things? Well, I don't really care about, I don't really care about politics. I don't really focus on it. Okay, well that's not how the country was set to operate. You know, you are a citizen of the Republic. Being a citizen doesn't just mean you have rights. The counter to rights are responsibilities and you do have both of those things that kind of matter. So again, that's a conversation really more about the culture of the United States. And that's a long term thing. That's not really something that the President or Congress can snap their fingers and fix. That's an actual driven by need decision that Americans themselves will have to make. So a big tell on this is going. We already know Americans don't care enough to really turn out for special elections. They're not. Right now we have special elections that have really wildly low turnout. So what about the midterms? The midterms are usually a low turnout election. Kind of depends. Americans need results and deliverables. So far Republicans are delivering on little, especially in the Senate. They are, the Democrats are proposing as a counter, like an alternate plan. Well, you saw the video of Patty Murray and Elizabeth Warren. That's what they're bringing to the table. Right. So Americans don't appear to be super duper impressed. And low propensity elections, well, you end up getting senators who are really lazy. Low propensity voters give you the garbage. Senators winning primaries, there you go. That's where those come from. It's from areas where people are lazy. Hate to break it to you, but that is, that is kind of the truth. This is why in a lot of cases you have a lot of purple state senators who are way better than some red state senators. Some of the best senators that we have have to fight tooth and nail for some of those elections. Red state, you don't really have to do anything because a lot of voters in comfortable red states don't really care. And so primaries are really large, abandoned. So those things said. Hope you guys have an excellent, excellent evening. We will be back tomorrow, 7pm to round out the week with the news and nonsense. I'm Tony Kennett and this is the Tony Kennett cast for the Daily Signal, nationally syndicated and first on 93 WIBC. Take care. ACC is a national grassroots advocacy organization dedicated to mobilizing young people in favor of pro market, pro innovation environmental ideas. So we are in hundreds of communities across the country with tens of thousands of young conservative members. I'm here because I am a conservative environmentalist. I think for a long time, conservatives have not come to the table. But what truly unites all of these young people is a shared belief that the ideas of freedom and free enterprise are the single best way to solve our environmental problems. While there's still work to be done, there are Republicans who want to come to the table and engage on climate in good faith. We are building the conservative environmental movement, but we're doing it by involving everybody.